Pretty Penny
by shooshyeah
Summary: He gripped my hips and I shut my eyes. To survive I had become a dog. Snuffling in the dirt, answering to commands. Having pups...Lizard/OC
1. Chapter 1

"Quit it."

"Whah?"

His voice was taunting. I shrugged his hot hand off my shoulder. "Because I asked you to."

"Nah."

When he continued trying to worm his fingers under the spaghetti straps of my shirt I slapped him. His face was sticky with sweat and I could clearly feel the wrinkles of his disfigured face under my fingers.

"Fucken bitch." he growled, but his only retaliation was to put his hand back.

I turned my head so I could scowl in his face. I looked at the familiar cleft lip revealing blotchy red gums and long yellow teeth, the deformed jaw and ice blue eyes, matted pile of grayish brown hair on top of his oddly oval-shaped head. He was giving his gnarled impression of a smirk back at me, clearly enjoying how angry he could make me just by continuing to do what I didn't want him to.

"Can't you leave me alone for ten seconds?"

"_Whah_?"

At my disgruntled expression he laughed. A wild, raspy sound. He only repeated 'why' to all of my questions because he knew it annoyed me. And once I had tried to do the same thing to him, but all it got me was a punch to the jaw. One of the only things I liked about being pregnant was that he didn't hit me anymore.

"Fine. Touch me. I don't care."

I crossed my arms and stared out across the desert. It would be dark soon, the sunset already disappearing. The sky was turning to dark blue above us, closer to the horizon fading to a pinkish orange that was sinking rapidly. Lizard's hand stayed on my shirt, fingers playing clumsily with the strap. I sighed, my bloated stomach twitching as I released the air in my lungs slowly. Day by day I was getting bigger, slowing down, requiring more food and more bathroom breaks.

"Gotta g'back soon."

A frown settled on my chapped lips. "How come?"

"Papa need m'help. Dunno wut." Lizard's hand slid off my shoulder, no longer interested because I was pretending I didn't care. He picked up a rock from near my bare foot and tossed it over the cliff. I watched it fall, listening for the echo of it hitting the ground but hearing nothing.

"There haven't been any travelers for a while. He probably doesn't need help in the garage." I mused, voice laced with hope. The garage was where the…meat was butchered. I hated the garage more than any of the other houses in the dusty little village. No matter what Lizard threatened me with I wouldn't go near it.

Lizard made a thoughtful noise, picking up another rock and throwing it with more force than the other one. "Papa bin actin' odd. Since Hades come 'round."

I nodded to show my understanding, remaining quiet. I didn't know too much about the inner-working of the mutant hierarchy in Yuma Flats, but I knew that Hades and Jupiter had been arguing for weeks now. It had been everyone on edge, especially Lizard. He never said it, but I knew he was anxious about what his father and uncle were fighting about.

"You don't think it's me, do you?" I asked suddenly, just as the idea occurred to me.

Lizard grunted. "Nah. Dun care f'tis neither."

I nodded again. As far as Lizard was concerned, everyone knew whose 'property' I was. He'd made that clear to me more than once. The sun was almost completely gone now, which thankfully meant the temperature was dropping. I hated being hot all the time, and lugging around the extra weight meant I was usually covered in a thin layer of sweat. Sometimes thicker depending on how much Lizard drug me around in a day.

There was shuffling next to me as he stood. In a gesture that was so familiar at that point it didn't even make me flinch, Lizard hooked his arms under my armpits and hefted me up. I huffed as my legs straightened, holding me up now that I was standing. My back hurt. Lizard released me and made a noise in his throat.

"Yew gettin' heavy." he told me as I brushed dirt off my cut-off denim shorts.

I turned around to glare at him, resting a hand on top of my stomach. "Well, that's your fault."

"Huh." a chuckle was my answer, the corner of his grim mouth turning up. "C'mon."

He walked for the village and I watched him. In nine months I had gained a sort of appreciation for the way Lizard moved, though most of the time I was still horrified by him. He was tall and thin and moved like…well, a lizard. I assumed that was how he got his name. The lengthy, strong muscles in his legs carried him ahead of me easily, my strained legs causing me to fall behind and breathe heavily in moments.

Maybe a few months before I would have called out for him to slow down, afraid of getting lost, but now I knew my way. The rocks and hills all looked the same, but I had acquired some sense of direction in the endless desert. My inner compass pointed to the village, something that frightened me.

"C'mon. Big Mama need ya in da kitchen."

I frowned when Lizard's voice shouted back at me. "What does she need? You didn't say anything earlier."

"She dun say. Hurry up."

My hand found a rock to help me step up a low slope, my lungs heaving in and out. The baby moved inside me, a pressure against my organs that was reassuring as well as a little painful. He kicked right next to my bladder and I winced, knowing I would need to go into the outhouse as soon as we got back. I patted my stomach to soothe the little body inside it, letting him know that I was fine despite my heavy breathing.

When I got to the top of the slope Lizard was visible again. His back was to me as he walked, slightly hunched over and with purpose as he always did. He was wearing a dirty vest that was torn in multiple places, a grimy red t-shirt underneath. It had several pockets that I knew held various sharp instruments. Some of which had been used to threaten me or other people in front of me. Sometimes to kill. His knee-length cargo shorts were ragged, revealing his legs that were a dark tan like the rest of his leathery skin.

I sighed and reached up to wipe a sweaty piece of my dark brown hair from my forehead. My bangs hadn't grown out enough to fit in with the rest of my long ponytail yet, but I was working on it. Usually when Big Mama wanted me in the kitchen it was because she wanted to talk, or because she needed help cooking. I hoped it wasn't the latter.

Out of all the mutants, Big Mama, Papa Jupiter, and Ruby were the nicest to me. The main reason was I knew I owed them my life. Some life it was. But if it weren't for Big Mama and Papa Jupe allowing Lizard to keep me I would have been dead like everyone else. _All of them. _

_I swallowed the hot spit in my mouth, blinking back the tears that came when I thought of my family and friends. It was a forbidden topic for me, even in my head, so I locked it away. I had shed too many tears already. Tears had no place in the desert. Not for me._

"_Penny!" _

_My name made me jump. Lizard rarely said it, mostly addressing me in grunts or the occasional 'yew'. He was looking back at me, irritated. I realized I had stopped walking, starting again, rubbing the back of my neck. It was moist and dry, hot from the near-constant sunburn I had. _

_Never in my life had I been good at tanning. My friends would sit out in the sun for a few hours and be a perfect golden-brown, but when I tried it I only turned out red. It turned out I just had to spend months in the sun, then some of the red would turn to a slight tan on my usually pale skin. However my shoulders, neck, nose, and cheeks remained pink. _

"_I can't go any faster!" I shouted at him across the distance, one hand moving to support the small of my back._

_He looked back, cleft lip curling in preparation to say something to me, but then the walkie talkie in his pocket buzzed. I could hear the static and a mumbling voice even from twenty feet behind him. It sounded like Big Brain to me, but I wasn't sure. Lizard glanced at me again, then ahead, then broke into a sprint._

_I paused, surprised. He disappeared in a matter of seconds, one of the fastest people I'd ever seen in my life. I held my stomach and half-jogged towards where I'd last seen him, my eyebrows furrowing._

"_Lizard!" _

_My scream echoed in the open land, the whistling of the wind covering most of it up. I could see him now, already down the ledge we had climbed up about an hour earlier. He waved his arm towards the houses, which were only about a hundred yards away, yelling something that I couldn't hear but I assumed meant for me to go meet Mama like I was supposed to. For another moment I was shocked, then the anger really set in. _

_I couldn't get down the ledge on my own. Even before I'd been hugely pregnant it had been a challenge, but now it was impossible. I stomped my foot and screamed curses after Lizard, but he was gone, probably having crawled into one of the many holes the mutants used to navigate the desert secretly. I was stuck._

_For a good ten minutes I shouted for help, but voices didn't carry in the desert. The mutants counted on that to cover up screams. I looked down at the seven foot drop to the next landing. If I could just make it there the next drop was only two feet, completely manageable. The baby shifted inside of me again, responding to my pounding heart. I swallowed, rubbing the side of my stretched skin. _

"_Okay." I whispered, slowly lowering myself to the ground._

_Once in a sitting position I scooted for the edge until my feet were off, pulse speeding even more. I braced my elbows on the ground, wincing at how the position put all the baby's weight on my spine. I tried to go quickly to get it over with, but I was too afraid. I was going to get back at Lizard for this. If I could get down uninjured. _

_My legs dangled into open air at the knee. I let out a shaky breath, looking up at the sky for help. It would be completely dark soon, and when it was dark in the desert it was black, no cities nearby to lighten the night. _

_This struggle in the fading light was so parallel to my life that I almost sobbed. No matter what I did I was alone, lost, and fighting to survive. There was no escape for me. I knew it so finally that it hurt. _

_I inched my elbows forward, hissing at how the skin dragged on the rough ground. Now my butt was off the ledge too, a few more inches would unbalance me and if I wasn't careful I would fall. I clenched my eyes shut, breathing quickly in and out of my flared nostrils. I thought about spending the freezing night outside with the snakes and scorpions, and what would happen if one of the Hades clan stumbled on me. _

_I pushed myself those last few inches. _

_For a moment I held myself up, but I was too heavy with the baby weighing me down. A shriek bubbled out of my throat as I slid, my elbows digging down to try and catch me. The ledge was jagged rock, and as I fell my elbows scraped against it harshly. Pain stabbed at me as I landed, my ankles aching from the drop, but they were uninjured. I was breathing heavily, shuddering, elbows stinging hotly. My hands were curled into fists, my fingers twitching when I felt liquid running down to pool in my palms. _

_My elbows were definitely injured, probably needed bandaging. I sighed, stepping down the other ledge and walking towards the house where Big Mama, Ruby, Mercury, and Venus stayed. _

_As soon as I was in the door I heard Ruby gasp. _

"_Pen!" she said in her high voice. "Wha' happen?" _

_I looked down and saw the blood dripping off my fingers. It made my stomach churn. "I fell. Can you get the first aid, Rubes?" _

_She nodded and ran off, the hood of her red sweatshirt falling off in her haste. I moved into the kitchen and sat down, carefully holding my arms off the table. Big Mama was at the oven, turning around when she heard me, wiping her large fingers on her flowery apron. _

"_Honey, what happened to yew?" her eyebrows shot up, her brown eyes wide in concern. She was wearing her wig. _

_I scowled. "Lizard ran off and left me. I had to get down off the ledge to the cliff myself and I tore my elbows open."_

"_Why did he do that?" wondered Mama, bustling over to a drawer to get me some towels. She wet them in the sink and brought them over. _

_When she wiped at the blood I groaned. "Shit." _

"_Sorry, sweetheart." _

_I pursed my lips so I wouldn't make any more noises. Mama didn't like causing pain. "Thank you, Mama." _

_She kissed me on the cheek and patted my head. I knew she thought of me as a daughter, and I allowed myself to relish the kind contact. I got so little of it I had to appreciate what I got._

_Ruby came in with the dusty red box her brothers had stolen from a family around two months ago. She set in on the table and opened the latch, pulling out a roll of bandages and a bottle of peroxide. I grimaced at the prospect of the burn the liquid would bring. But infection could be dangerous in the desert, so I would put up with it._

"_Wha' happened?" repeated Ruby as I stood and moved for the sink. She followed me with the supplies._

_Big Mama answered for me, which I was grateful for. If I talked my voice would wobble. "Lizard left 'er alone out there. If Jupe finds out he'll whip him." _

"_Oh." Ruby breathed out, fear in her lopsided eyes. Her small mouth was set anxiously. "S' baby aright, Penny?" _

_I nodded. Even though I was hurt the baby was fine, rearranging himself inside me at the pain I was feeling, but he was fine. That was what mattered to me. "Yes, he's just fine. I only hurt my elbows." _

_She made a noise of relief and was quiet. The way Ruby touched me to bandage my wounds was hesitant. Everything she did was so sheepish, it made me feel nothing but pity for her. I imagined growing up with a family like hers and knew I would have been skittish, too. As she fixed me up I leaned my head on hers, first causing her to flinch, then smile. _

_I loved Ruby. She was one of the only things I was grateful for in my nightmarish situation. _

_The peroxide hurt as bad as I was expecting, but it was better than letting the wound fester in the heat and dying from infection. I kept bleeding, but Ruby wrapped the bandage around me tight, so I didn't worry about it. In the morning I would take them off and see how it was doing, spraying the wound with antiseptic if need be. _

"_Thank you, Ruby. I think I'm gonna go to bed." _

_Ruby nodded as she rinsed the sink of peroxide and blood. "Aright. G'night, Penny."_

"_Good night, Ruby. Mama." _

_I waved at the two women, leaving the kitchen and grabbing a flashlight by the door before leaving the whole house. The one that Lizard and I inhabited was small, only one story, and a few houses away. It was kind of funny to me, that I had a house that I might have envisioned as my dream house in the past. Now it was my nightmare house. _

_I watched the beam of the flashlight on the ground, wanting it more for comfort than to see my way. I'd walked the path hundreds of times. I was thinking that I would be there any second when the light landed on a pair of old boots, a hole in the right one's toe revealing a filthy sock. I stopped, raising the flashlight up the body until I could distinguish who it was._

"_Hi, Pluto." _

_I didn't shine the light on his face, knowing it would hurt his good eye, but I could imagine the customary goofy smile on his malformed face. "Hi, Pen." he said to me in his garbled voice. "Where goin'?" _

"_Home for bed. Where are you going, Plute?" _

_He made a low noise, one I thought sounded upset. "Help Unca Jupe. Night."_

_With that he ran off, I could hear his heavy body thumping on the hard ground. I wondered what was going on, but I would find out in the morning. I pushed on the screen door to my house. My house. I sighed and used the flashlight to go to the bathroom, then the bedroom. _

_The bed was surprisingly comfortable. It had a solid wood frame and a thick mattress, along with a downy comforter and soft pillows. I only used the blankets at night, when the temperature dropped surprisingly low. I stripped down to my underwear to sleep nonetheless, knowing that when I woke up in the morning it would be back to blistering heat again. _

_Once in bed I was comfortable, forgetting my injured elbows and my fury at Lizard for causing it. Those were things I would worry about in the morning. _

_For the time being, I was going to sleep and dream about happier times. _


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as the weight on the bed shifted I woke up.

"Where have you been?" came out of my mouth groggily, followed by a yawn muffled into the pillow.

Lizard grunted, and I knew he was removing his boots, something that made me smirk. Just a few months ago he never would have paused to remove his dirty boots, but I'd harped on about it enough that he'd started doing it on his own. I heard them clunk to the floor, then his arm was slinging over me. His chest pressed to my back on top of the blanket, his sharp chin in the crook of my neck and shoulder.

"Papa hurt."

I stiffened, rolling over under the covers to look at him. He kept his arm over me, face blank. It was still dark outside, only the light of the moon letting me see a dim outline of him.

"What happened?"

Lizard scowled. "Papa went tuh Gas Haven tuh talk tuh Jeb Jr. Was people there. Papa ran. One shot 'im in a leg."

"God." I mumbled. There had been people at the gas station and Jeb Jr. didn't say anything to the mutants. I could see punishment coming the old gas attendant's way. "Is Papa okay?"

"He fine."

Apparently Lizard didn't want to talk about his injured father. He pulled his legs up and tucked them under the blanket, pressing himself to me and making a low noise in his throat. I accepted the contact wordlessly, used to it. His callused hand cupped my bare breast and I flinched. My breasts were extremely sensitive lately, seeming to get even more so as they swelled all the time.

The movement made my elbows sting, and I remembered how upset I was.

Lizard sucked in an angry breath when I kicked him in the shin under the blanket. He glared into my green eyes with his frozen blue ones. "Wut?"

"You left me alone and I had to climb down. I only scraped my elbows but it could have been worse. It could have hurt the baby."

His hairless brow furrowed a bit. Obviously he had forgotten, or maybe hadn't thought about it in the first place. Lizard let go of my breast and put a hand on my stomach instead. His palm was rough and hot on my skin.

I blinked at him curiously. Sometimes I thought I had him figured out, a simple and violent man. But sometimes he surprised me. The moments when he would touch my stomach with such tenderness were those times. What he said next really surprised me.

"M'sorry. S'alright?"

He wouldn't look me in the eye, but I nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, he's fine."

"Yew?"

That truly blew me away. Lizard didn't care if I was alright. Or so I thought. A cold fear gripped me by the throat like a hand, trying to cut off the link between my mouth and my lungs. Fear that maybe he wasn't just using me for fucking and procreation.

But that was ridiculous.

Nonetheless, I wasn't angry anymore. I brought my hand out from under the blanket. For a few seconds I hesitated, but I took a deep breath and put it on his cheek. I didn't miss how it made him jump. The gesture was something I had never done before. As far as I could remember I hadn't ever touched him of my own accord. The dark bedroom had fallen mostly silent, but I could hear his breathing speed up a bit.

His hands grabbed at me roughly like they always did in those situations. I didn't complain or struggle like I usually would have, hoping to mutely express my gratitude. Lizard either didn't notice or also decided not to say anything, going about his normal routine of hurriedly stripping himself before forcing me to roll on top of him.

My being on top was a part of the recent routine. Letting him fuck me on my back wasn't an option anymore, the position putting far too much stress on my already labored back. It had taken some convincing, but sex was easier for him if I didn't fight. I didn't really mind the unflattering way it probably made me look, either, with my bulging stomach between us and my hands having to press my engorged breasts into place to avoid them bouncing and hurting me. It wasn't like Lizard cared at all. I had a theory that I could gain three hundred pounds and grow a beard and he would still be happy to fuck me.

His fingers found my hair and pulled it loose from the ponytail, the dark brown waves falling loose almost to my elbows. My hair had always been long, but it was even longer after going without a cut for almost ten months. Lizard leaned up a little to clutch a handful and draw it to his nose, something I was used to. I didn't question it anymore.

I sat down on his hips, slowly rocking back and forth to take him inside me. Everything part of me seemed more receptive since I'd gotten pregnant, so the sensation was almost painful until I got used to it. Lizard liked to hear me scream, in pain or anything else, so I was happy to be on top and have some control of the pace.

A low 'aww' escaped his mouth, eyes slowly shutting. I pursed my lips and held onto my chest, adding a bit of up and down to the rocking rhythm. Lizard grunted and pushed up into me, causing me to wince and let out a gasp. That spurred him on, prompting a heavy buck upwards that almost knocked me off. I had to fling my hands out to catch myself, glaring at Lizard and breathing heavily.

"Asshole." I accused.

Lizard sneered at me, thin chest rising and falling quickly. "Git on yer hands 'an knees."

"What?" my voice came out shrill and panting. "No!"

"Do it. Won' hurt yer back." he insisted, shifting his hips again and grunting.

I thought about it. Did I really have room for limits anymore? I sighed and climbed off of him, doing as he said and positioning myself on my hands and knees. When Lizard told me to do something I did it. Like a trained dog.

Lizard gripped my hips and I shut my eyes. This was what I was reduced to. Fucking a mutant in the same way a dog would get fucked. Exactly like a trained dog. To survive I had to be one. Snuffling in the dirt and eating whatever I could find. Having pups. I hated myself and him in that moment, as I often did.

"Unnh. Aw, shit. Fuck, gurl."

[i]Good dog[/i].

He was inside me again. The angle was new, but the brutal way he pounded into me wasn't. I could clearly feel his sharp pelvic bones hitting the soft flesh of my butt, and the head of his dick was bumping into my inflamed cervix every other thrust. A small moan escaped me, because after months I was used to the pain of it and could feel the pleasure I got out of it, too.

I took what I could get.

All I could hear was his skin slapping on mine and his harsh breathing, plus the occasional curse that fell from his mangled lips. I thought back to the first time he had done this to me. I was bound to the headboard in the same bed we were in currently, screaming for help pointlessly as he fucked me until I tore and bled. I'd been tied to that bed until I gave in. A week.

Lizard had varying moods when it came to sex. Sometimes he would be done in two or three minutes, but there were times when he would draw it out for nearly an hour. Sometimes he would piston into me like a wild animal, but there were also a few occasions where he would be almost slow. Never gentle, but slow. I wasn't sure what type I preferred, honestly. I would have been fine without any of it.

That particular night (or early morning, I wasn't sure) it was over fairly quick. His breathing quickened and then stopped, ending with a long grunt and a halting of his movement. I could feel him twitching, fingertips digging into my hips hard enough to bruise. The pulsing of hot liquid deep inside me slowed, stopped, and Lizard was pulling out and falling onto the bed.

I maneuvered myself onto my side and located my underwear on the floor, wriggling them back onto my legs with some difficulty due to my size. Lizard made a few noises as he settled down, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him. I shook his grip off, but didn't move. My nose was about an inch from his shoulder, and he smelled like sweat. Now I was warm, so I didn't bother with the blanket.

A loud snore came from Lizard and I sighed. This was my life now.

I'd just like to say that this isn't a story that will have sex every chapter. But I think it's important. Please comment.


	3. Chapter 3

"_You know, Mom, I didn't believe you when you said we would be in the middle of nowhere."_

_The woman who had raised me sat in a fold-out beach chair, wearing a dark blue swimming suit and slathering on tanning oil. She was already a fairly dark brown, much darker than me. We didn't look anything alike in the summer, when she tanned almost constantly. _

_She laughed, her mouth opening wide to reveal straight teeth that were slightly yellowed from years of smoking. "Well, Pen, I've always said you never listen to me. It's peaceful, though. Isn't it?" _

"_Yeah, I guess."_

_I looked around us at the seemingly never-ending desert. There was no shade except what our rented camper provided, and the sun was coming down mercilessly. I could feel the rays soaking into my bare shoulders, beating down on my scalp. A hand slapped me on the arm suddenly, causing me to flinch._

"_Don't worry about it, Penny." my dad's voice said next to me. "A few days in the open air will do us all some good." _

_There was a noise of assent from inside of the camper, followed by an excited male voice. "Yeah! This is like, extremely cool!" _

_I watched my two best friends step out of the huge metal bus, one of them blonde and male, the other dark and female. His name was Mike and he was a history major like me, and her name was Betty and she was an exchange student from Australia. She was half Aborigine, giving her skin that was so dark it was almost blue and stunning black eyes. _

"_I have to take Mike's side on this one." said Betty, grinning at me. "It reminds me a bit of home out here."_

"_See?" Dad put an arm around me and squeezed. "Everyone else is having a great time. Don't be such a worry wart." _

_I rolled my eyes at him and shoved him away. "Okay, whatever, Dad. I didn't say I'm not enjoying myself. We're just so…isolated out here." _

_Mom lowered her sunglasses to stare at me with the green eyes we shared. "Seriously, Penny. You only get one Spring Break a year! Relax and have fun. We're only going to be out here for two days before we head to Albuquerque."_

"_Your mum's right." Betty nodded and winked at me in her friendly way. "Besides, you're completely safe as long as I'm around."_

_I laughed at the faux-cocky look on her face, nodding and giving in._

"_Yeah. I'm sure you're right."_

_***********_

My eyes opened and I sighed.

Lizard had left me alone like he did every morning, so I slowly got up and dressed in clean clothes. Clean for the desert anyway. I pulled on an old dress of Big Mama's, which was thin blue cotton and too big for me even in my state of hugeness. It hung off my shoulder on one side, the hem reaching past my knees.

After using the bathroom again I shuffled out to the kitchen, pausing in the doorway when I saw two figures instead of one sitting at the dusty table. Lizard didn't even look up from the plate of beans he was shoveling down, but Goggle had stopped as soon as I became visible.

"Good morning." I said stiffly.

Lizard grunted dismissively, and Goggle slowly returned to his own breakfast, slitted eyes remaining firmly on me. I could feel him staring at me as I went to the cupboard above the sink, opening the squeaky door to browse the many cans of food there.

I knew Goggle didn't like me. It had been clear since the day it was decided that I was staying. But I still didn't know why.

I picked out a can of oranges and a can of peaches, rummaging in the drawers for the can opener. Goggle cleared his throat and I spun around, finding him holding the rusty can opener out to me with a filthy hand. Crossing the short distance, I took it with a mumbled 'thanks' and pretended I wasn't listening to them as I went about my business, pouring the syrupy fruits into a cracked bowl.

"Papa leg healin' nice." came Goggle's raspy voice, barley above a whisper. I wasn't sure if it was just his usual volume, or if my presence was deterring him from speaking.

There was a noisy swallow before Lizard responded. "Where dem people?"

"Still at Gas Haven. Wen down afer Papa an' a slashed tires."

"We go affer we et."

My fingers shook a little as I searched for a fork. There were people less than a mile away from me. People that were going to be dead soon. I heard a metallic tinkle on the floor, and I knew without a doubt that it was Lizard's chain of spikes. My stomach lurched in time with the baby, who punched me in the rib with a tiny fist. I rested my bowl on the crest of my stomach, turning and leaning my back against the counter to watch them.

When Goggle fell silent and stared Lizard moved his cold eyes to me. I stabbed a slice of peach and stuck it in my mouth, chewing very slowly and watching the brothers. Goggle ducked his head, his face no longer visible underneath the brim of his stained green bowler hat.

"Can I come?" I forced the words out, my heart racing, peach turning to rubber in my mouth.

Goggle snapped his head towards Lizard, waiting for some kind of answer. Lizard chewed and watched me, bent over the table and tapping his fork on his plate. I carefully swallowed, clearly able to feel the barely chewed peach slide down my throat.

He licked his teeth and shook his head. "Yer place here."

My grip on the fork tightened. I wanted to argue, but something told me that if I did so in front of Goggle I would be punished. So instead of pushing the subject I glared at him as I finished my breakfast, then let the bowl clatter in the sink as I walked out of the house.

"Penny, whutcha lookin' fer?"

I was in the rocking chair that sat by the window in the nursery, using my feet to push me back and forth with a steady creaking. When Venus spoke to me I didn't look away, answering her question while still staring hard out the dirty window pane.

"Lizard and Goggle should be back soon."

The small blonde girl rested her small hand on my knee. I could feel the heat of it through my threadbare dress. "Yeah. S'good, 'cause I'm [i]real[/i] hungry."

I repressed a violent shudder at her words. Somehow it was worse to hear the impending cannibalism voiced in her innocent soprano. I had never eaten human flesh, even when Lizard tried beating me until I did. I preferred the idea of starving.

"Kin I talk tuh yer baby?"

Tearing my eyes away from the deserted landscape I smiled at her. She was too young to understand the murder that would be happening or how it made me feel. Venus was four, as she constantly reminded me, with corn silk blonde hair and uneven eyes much like Ruby, plus the lump extending from her jaw resting on her shoulder. I cared about Venus and her twin brother Mercury, too, having spent a lot of time babysitting them for Big Mama.

"Sure."

Beaming, the little girl put her hands on either side of my belly. I looked outside again, watching the yellow and blue horizon for the two dark specks of Goggle and Lizard.

"Hi, lil' baby. Soon's yer out imma play wif yew all duh time. Teach ya how tuh do leap froggin'. Once yer big 'nuff. I won' be yer family 'cause Lizard ain't mah brother, but we still gon' be reeaal close!"

That caused me to look back at her. "Venus, Lizard isn't your brother?"

"Nah. He mama dead."

I gaped as Venus pressed her ear to my stomach. "His mom died? But…I thought Big Mama was -"

"Big Mama only mama a me, Mercury, an' Ruby." Venus didn't seem interested in the topic, grinning at me with a missing front tooth. "How long 'till yer baby come out?"

Shaking my head to clear it, I shrugged. "I dunno. I've been trying to keep track, and I think I'm seven and a half months pregnant. So it should be another month and a half."

"Thas so long!" moaned Venus, pouting. "I wannit out now."

I snorted quietly, thinking of my aching back and the occasional crippling morning sickness that would still hit me. "Yeah, me too."

Venus occupied herself with a doll Big Mama had made her after a few more moments, and I returned to my watching thoughtfully. I had assumed that Lizard was Big Mama's as well, but I guess I hadn't really thought it out. Big Mama didn't look all that old. Then again, I had no clue how old Lizard was. Age didn't seem to have a place in the desert.

The baby kicked at me, and I got the distinct impression he was annoyed. Probably at all my moping. I drummed my fingers on the curve of my stomach, telling him that I couldn't help our situation. I'd been out of luck for months now, nearly coming to terms with the fact that I was beyond rescue. The only people that came through were unsuspecting tourists, and they were doomed to be dinner.

That fact was firmly reinforced as the two dots I'd been waiting for appeared. I squinted at them, able to distinguish that they were side by side. As time passed I could see them dragging something. I stood up and clasped my hands under my belly, a bead of sweat falling down the back of my neck.

"Dey back, Penny?"

I nodded grimly at Venus. "Mm hm."

She giggled happily and ran outside. I lunged to stop her but I wasn't quick enough. With a huff I followed her, my hands beginning to shake again. A warm wind hit me in the face and I sighed. This meant they would be using the garage. The thought brought hot bile into the back of my mouth. It took a lot of swallowing and willpower not to release it.

"Dey back."

I looked over at the familiar voice. Ruby and Pluto had come around the corner of an empty house, now standing a few feet away from me also watching the approaching figures. I could see which one was Lizard and which one was Goggle now, each of them had a black garbage bag bound with old rope, hauling it behind them as they walked.

"Yeah." I whispered, holding my stomach in an almost protective way.

Ruby knew what I was going through. She was the only one that craved a normal life. Like what I used to have. I didn't even flinch as her sweaty hand worked its way into mine. I gripped her fingers tightly and pursed my lips so I wouldn't cry.

No matter how much time passed, I would never be used to all the deaths. Innocent deaths. Then again, that wasn't how the mutants thought of them.

"M'gonna go sit w'Mama." said Ruby, voice quiet and melancholy. "Gonna come?"

After a moment I shook my head. "No."

Ruby nodded and moved silently away from me, towards Big Mama's house. She knew why I wanted to stay. It was some form of punishment I inflicted on myself, reconciling my past sins as well as my more recent ones. I'd never been religious, especially since my imprisonment in Yuma Flats, but I did it for myself. I felt like all the deaths were my fault. A normal girl who just sat there and watched it all unfold, motionless and helpless.

Pluto jumped and waved at his cousins, setting off towards them with his usual limping gate. I felt rooted to the ground, my feet slipping with perspiration in my white rubber flip-flops. All I had left of my old life was a backpack full of clothes and a journal, plus the sandals I was wearing. At the time none of the clothes fit me except a pair of dark blue sweatpants. I kept meaning to cut the legs off so I could wear them in the heat, but whenever I thought about it I found something else I had to do.

With Pluto to help them Lizard and Goggle were moving faster, only around a hundred and fifty feet away. I could see they had four bodies. Two rather large and being pulled by Lizard, one by Goggle, and one by Pluto now. It was a little surprising sometimes how resilient Lizard was considering the way he looked almost emaciated.

I could Lizard was wearing a hat now, a straw cowboy hat with a few holes in the brim. Sometimes they returned with tokens from the victims, but it was rare. They were generally against 'outsider' things, but Goggle had a rucksack over his shoulder, so anything was possible.

Lizard looked up and saw me, his face red and contorted with the effort of hauling the bodies. I resisted some strange impulse to wave, standing still and watching. I did a lot of watching.

They were only twenty feet away now. Lizard stopped for a moment to wipe his arm across his forehead, then he was shouting to me.

"Go an' open the garage!"

I did what he said. The garage opened with a leather handle at the bottom of the old metal door. I had to crouch down cautiously, holding my back and grunting as I reached. I managed to loop one finger through it and lift, wincing at the stab of pain it caused in my stomach and back.

The smell of old blood and flesh hit me like a brick. I clapped my hand to my nose, gulping in air through my mouth to try and forget the stench. The sight was almost as bad. The cement floor was spattered with dried blood, several tables stained with the same red substance crammed into the limited space. The tables were wooden, two were empty and the rest were littered with various tools used to…dismember.

There was a rough scraping sound behind me, and I stepped out of the way just in time for the bodies to arrive. Goggle was in front, picking up the black garbage bag he had been towing and dropping it onto a table. I cringed at the loud clunk the skull made on the wood.

Pluto was next with his body, putting it on the other empty table. Lizard came inside after his cousin, letting the two bodies he carried fall to the floor with twin thuds. I braced my free hand on the wall, watching powerlessly as Lizard grabbed for a knife and began to cut the bag of Goggle's body open.

I didn't want to see it. But I couldn't move.

The plastic gave way jaggedly to the crooked knife, slowly revealing the hairy leg of a man and the cargo shorts he had been wearing. My eyes followed the opening in the black bag, my hand clinging to my face tighter when I saw blood.

Blood that was coming from somewhere above. Blood bathing his throat, but that wasn't where it came from. Lizard finished cutting the bag and I saw the man's face. Broken jaw. An oozing red hole where his right eye should have been.

"She faintin'."

I heard Pluto's voice from under warm water, realizing that I was indeed sinking lower and lower. I stared at the dead man on the table. My chin throbbed in sympathy for his, which was almost touching his ear it was so badly skewed from its regular position. I wondered if the blow to his jaw had killed him or if it took the removal of his eye to do the trick.

My knees touched the floor and I started to hyperventilate. I was only two feet away from one of the body bags. I saw my hand reaching for it but couldn't remember giving the command. White spots bloomed from the middle of my vision. I landed on my elbow. The bag moved.

I fainted.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up and could clearly remember passing out. When I opened my eyes I saw Ruby, sitting in a chair next to me sewing a shirt that looked small enough to belong to Venus or Mercury. I groaned at the pounding in my head, causing her to look over at me.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

Ruby frowned at me. "Ten minutes. Lizard an' Pluto carried ya in."

"Hm." I was on the couch in Mama's house. It was soft but smelled like urine. Speaking of which… "I need to go to the bathroom. Will you help me up, Rubes?"

She stood and grabbed my hand, yanking me up with a grunt of exertion I smiled at her in thanks, then pursing my lips to hide the wince I wanted to give at the throbbing in my head. I must have hit it when I fell. I could add the bump on my head to my other injuries, my elbows still bandaged and sore if I ran them into anything.

Before going to the bathroom I straightened my dress and glanced at Ruby. My eyebrows furrowed when I saw her face.

"What's wrong?" Her lips quivered and I reached out, resting my hand on her shoulder and squeezing. "Ruby?"

It startled me when she let out a dry sob, but I didn't hesitate wrapping my arms around her when she leaned against me. Luckily she was to my side, making it easier to hug her without my gigantic stomach in the way. I smoothed the back of her long black hair with one hand, the other patting her shivering back.

"P-papa hurt an'-an' Goggle bein' s-so mean lately. An' there was screamin' comin' from g-garage earlier. I kin't take it!"

My first impression of Ruby had been that she was unhappy with what her family did, but she was too frightened to change it. I had to look hard to see how strong she was, how much she was repressing every time the 'garage' was in use. She was just as disturbed as me, just as disgusted by what went on there. Plus, her father was injured. I squeezed her tighter.

"We can't do anything." I whispered. I believed it was true. "I'm sorry. I think about it, too."

She rubbed her face against my shoulder. I didn't mind the sensation of her tears and snot soaking through the thin fabric. "T'so bad. M-makes me wish I could hate 'em. But they mah family."

"It'll be okay." There was nothing else to do but lie. I swallowed and attempted to change the subject. "Hey, I saw Goggle had a bag earlier. Did he bring back anything good?"

Wiping her eyes and sniffling, Ruby pulled away from me and nodded. "Few thangs. Mama said a radio."

"A radio? That's exciting. Let's go check it out."

Ruby nodded again. "Yeah. First I gotta go change Papa's bandages."

"Alright, sweetie. I'll meet you at Mama's in half an hour."

I watched her skip out of the room before covering my face with my hands. The baby gave a questioning shove to my stomach, not helping the nausea I was experiencing. I swallowed, staring around the house in a daze.

By the useless television set there were three mannequins. A boy on the floor, positioned like he was watching the blank screen, a swirl of blonde hair attached to his chalky white head. The father and mother sat on the couch next to the TV, their arms around each other. The mother smiling contently and the father smiling proudly down at the little boy. All three of them were blackened and singed in some areas, and the mother's ear had fallen off to reveal a hollow head.

I often wondered why the mutants had left all the mannequins where they found them. Sometimes I thought they were afraid to touch them, like they would come to life. I knew they frightened me. As I watched the mother seemed to turn her head to look at me, painted-on blue eyes accusing, red mouth smiling garishly with black teeth.

Suddenly I was suffocating. I had to get out, speed walking for the back door and pushing on the screen door with all my might. Once outside the sun blinded me momentarily, my head still sore from the fainting spell I'd had earlier. I rubbed my eyes and breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm down. When I could see I looked down at my stomach, running my hand from the top under my breasts to the bottom of the large curve at the top of my underwear.

"Don't move."

I froze. Someone was next to me. I hadn't seen them. Their voice was low and raspy, but it didn't belong to any of the mutants. Not from Jupiter's clan anyway. I thought of one of Hades' people finding me and didn't dare turn my head. My heart seemed to stop as I realized I was probably going to die.

There was an intake of breath from the person next to me. "Hey…You're…not like them."

What did that mean? I dared to turn my head just a little, and what I saw shocked me more than one of Hades' clan.

There was a pile of old tires behind the house, stacked about five feet high next to an old-fashioned metal garbage can. Behind the tires a man was crouched on one knee, covered in blood and pointing a rusty knife at me. I knew the knife had come from the garage, and a few seconds later I knew the man had, too.

"You got out." I stated numbly, gaping at him.

He looked young, maybe a few years older than me. He was Hispanic with short black hair which was matted to his head with blood. It didn't look like it was his blood, but he was shaking. That could have just been nerves. He was wearing a t-shirt that had once been white, a small area of the original color showing on his shoulder.

"How did you get out?"

After swallowing, he answered in an unsteady voice. "They thought I was dead. I faked it. When they left I snuck out…" His face crumpled, blood-covered lips quivering. "They…murdered my family. We were just driving to Questa for my nephew's birthday. My dad decided to take a new route."

He was alive. He was normal and he was alive and he was right next to me. I stared at him a few more moments, unsure if I was dreaming or hallucinating. But as he became increasingly confused by my inaction I knew I had to see if he was real. I reached my hand out and he flinched, holding the knife more firmly.

Slowly I moved my hand towards him until my fingertips touched his arm. I felt hot sticky flesh, overheated in the hundred-degree weather. As soon as I was positive he was real I grabbed his wrist and dragged him inside.

He staggered, almost dropping his knife as I slammed the door shut and locked it. I ran to the front door and did the same, also drawing the blinds closed. A storm was taking place inside my head, fear making me think that we were being watched when I knew we were alone.

I turned around panting once the house was shut up, cutting off almost all the daylight. The man in the kitchen was leaning against the counter now, obviously close to collapse from exhaustion or something else.

"What's your name?" I asked quietly.

He stared at me with wide black eyes as I cautiously walked back towards him. "Ricardo. People call me Rico."

"My name's Penny. I've been here nine months."

Rico looked from my face to my stomach, quickly making the connection. "Holy shit…Wait, is that…?"

"Lizard." the name nearly caught on my lips, like I was afraid to say it. I was. "You're the first person I've seen alive this whole time. Are you hurt?"

Glancing down at his body as if to check, he shook his head. "I'm fine. I need to get to the cops."

"Take me with you." I blurted, my eyes already stinging with tears. "Please, I can't stay here."

Rico shifted the knife in his hand, looking behind me at the house, then back to my face. I could see the gears turning in his head, the fear and the will to survive warring. He could probably see the desperation on my face, and I knew I looked haggard. Unwashed and too thin for a healthy pregnant woman.

"Okay." he said at last.

I smiled and resisted the urge to hug him. In his fragile state he might have stabbed me. "Thank you! You don't know what this means to me."

He didn't. Now that I allowed myself to think about it I was terrified of the upcoming birth. There was no stopping it, and I would have no medical attention at all. I hadn't had any prenatal care either. And I didn't want to raise a child here. I'd come to terms with being a mother against my will, but I wanted better for my child. When I thought about having a baby and raising it in Yuma Flats…my head spun.

"How do we get out of here?" asked Rico, breaking me out of my dizzying array of thoughts.

I shook my head to clear it. "Uh…I'm not sure. Did you see the Gas Haven?"

"Yeah, we stopped there to fill up. Some guy told us to take a short cut and…fuck." he scowled. "That piece of shit sent us here."

I nodded, thinking with pity of Jeb Jr. It wasn't all his fault. They would kill him if he didn't send them a meal whenever one passed. "He has a car there. If we can get that far we can get away."

"That has to be four miles." Rico's soiled hand came up and ran through his hair. He looked at me skeptically. "Can you go that far?"

I pursed my lips. If I said 'no' it was possible he would leave me. But I knew for a fact if I went that far in the heat I would be dehydrated, probably faint again after my earlier episode.

"I'll need water, but I think I can make it." I said, hoping I didn't sound too hesitant.

Nodding, Rico tapped his knife on his palm in thought. "Alright…If you can get water I'll find more weapons to bring. We have to work fast."

My mind worked ahead to the water pump behind Mama's house, right at the edge of the village. Someone would see me. I swallowed, telling myself forcefully that I could do it. I had to. Rico seemed very calm and prepared, prompting me to ask him about it.

"Are you a cop or something?"

For the first time a little smile appeared on his face. "No, I work at a hardware store. But I play a lot of video games."

I grinned back slightly. "Okay, I'll go and get the water. Don't go anywhere else and lock the door when I leave."

I grabbed two long-empty milk jugs from under the sink, giving Rico a look that was half pleading for him not to leave without me and half speculating of whether or not he would.

Rico shut the door as soon as I was outside. I took a deep breath to steady myself and started the walk to Mama's house. Sweat that was more from anxiety than the steady rays of the sun. My eyes darted around, finding nothing but expecting something nonetheless. It was common to see Cyst hobbling around on patrol, so all I could do was pray he was on the other side of the village or busy elsewhere.

By the time I got to the pump I was panting, setting the jugs down with one hand and clutching my stomach with the other. The baby was going mental, kicking and trying to escape my own pounding heartbeat. I silently willed him to be still as I hurriedly removed the cap from one jug and held it under the spout of the rusty pipe jutting up from the ground. Shaking, I pumped the handle quickly until there was a screech and water gushed out.

The first jug filled quickly, but I almost dropped it I was in such a hurry to get the cap back on and grab the other container. A drip of sweat fell from my forehead to the dirt, mingling with the water that sprayed everywhere. I hadn't felt so stressed for a long time, and I was abruptly sad that I had become so used to the lifestyle I'd been forced to adopt.

Just as I prepared to cap the second pitcher of water someone cleared their throat behind me. I froze, straightening up too quickly and causing a twinge of pain in my back. Spinning on my heel, I saw Lizard approaching me with a gray cowboy hat I'd never seen before on his head. I hid the jug behind my back, then realized it wasn't all that suspicious of me to be gathering water.

"What are yew doin'?" he asked, stopping about three feet away from me. "Thought you were helping Ruby with Papa's leg."

I shook my head, the ends of my ponytail whipping my neck. "No. She didn't need my help."

"Hm." Lizard looked me up and down, something I was used to. "What you gettin all that water for?"

"Thirsty. I'm really thirsty." I could feel sweat soaking through the armpits of my dress, a prickly sensation that I was afraid Lizard would notice. He noticed strange things like that. "I guess the baby needs more water."

He seemed not to notice the hysteric giggle I let out. "Yeah…Goin' home now?"

"Uh…I don't know. Maybe I'll take a walk." I scrambled to think of something. If he thought I was going home he might go with me, and that would be the end of Rico. "Sick of being cooped up all day."

Lizard shrugged, looking behind me at the open land past the village. My eyes strayed to his deformed lip, the way it lifted and revealed his yellowed teeth, sitting at on odd angle because of his misshapen jaw. The fingerless gloves on his hands were stained with blood, some of which I realized was fresh. I gulped and bent down to pick up the water.

"Okay, I'm gonna go."

I didn't get a foot away before his hand closed around my arm. "I'll go with ya."

"You don't need to. I know you're busy." I tried not to sound terrified and failed miserably.

Lizard was suspicious. I'd been too nervous. "Yew don't tell me what tuh do."

"I'm not, I'm not, I -"

He started tugging me in the direction of the house. I dropped the water and tried to pry him off with both hands, beginning to sob. Lizard shook the old revolver off his belt and checked the chambers. I screamed and beat on his arm, digging my heels into the dirt to try and stop us. All it accomplished was burning my feet and pissing Lizard off.

He stopped and turned around, surprising me when he didn't aim the gun at my head. However, he did look furious at me. I cringed instinctively, raising a hand to cover my face from the blow I expected. Instead Lizard grabbed me by the hair and forced me closer to him, growling right in my face.

"D'you think I'm stupid?" he demanded, pulling on my hair hard enough to make me whimper. "I knew he got loose, an' I thought yew would help him. Looks like ah was right."

I moaned, knowing I was defeated. "Don't kill him, Lizard! Please!"

"Would ya rather I kill yew?"

Now he did point the gun at me, the cold barrel pressing right to my temple. I broke down into tears and shook my head. Lizard removed the gun quickly, dragging me again. I kept yelling at him to let me go, though I knew it was useless. Though I could barely see through my tears I knew when we were at the house, able to hear him kicking the door down.

I was thrown to the floor, my hands landing on the cracking linoleum of the kitchen. Cradling my face in my hands I listened while Lizard beat Rico. If that didn't kill him then the loud gunshot did. My ears were ringing and I could barely breathe.

The first chance I had to get free in ten months was over just as quickly as it started.

There was the sound of Lizard dragging Rico out the door. My legs were getting sore from their twisted position underneath me, but I couldn't stand. I was shaking far too hard, still gasping out sobs into my tear-drenched palms. Heavy footsteps came back in.

Lizard took hold of my hair again and forced me to look at him. I gathered all my willpower to stare into his face, my captor and my savior and my personal devil. He appeared oddly emotionless, not even taking joy in my pain like he usually did as far as I could tell.

"I let yew get too comfortable." he mumbled. "Yer gonna learn yer place again."

He released me, going back outside to deal with the body. I let out a trembling breath and wiped my face, sniffing at the water that had dripped from my nose. My eyes were swollen and my nose would be chapped by the next day, like it always did when I cried. I hiccupped and resisted beginning to cry again.

I looked at the wooden cupboards next to me. They were painted blue, chipping with age. I knew the pipes under the sink were rusty and riddled with cobwebs. Probably there were mice living down there, since we never opened them. I leaned my head against the cool wood and coughed to clear my throat of mucus. A mighty headache was developing.

I thought of Rico and the dizzy feeling of having recently spoken to someone who was now dead set in. It wasn't something a person could get used to. Imagining a living person going to a lifeless corpse in a matter of moments…It was extremely difficult to wrap my mind around. Though I'd already done it so many times.

I wanted my mother.

The baby shifted delicately inside me. I started sobbing again.

(((Note: I apologize for all the crap with italics in the past chapters. I have tried repeatedly to fix it, and it's just like 'nope, I like being completely italicized, thanks'. I know it's confusing, and it makes me really mad :[ )))


	5. Chapter 5

"What're you doin'?"

I heard Lizard's voice and groaned. If I had the strength I would have stood up, but my body was covered in cold sweat and my knees were nothing but jello. I looked down and was faced with my own vomit on the sand, causing another round of gagging. Only now I was empty, just a bit of hot bile working its way out of my mouth. The taste was putrid and the sensation was worse.

"What…does it look like I'm doing?" I forced out, my fingers digging into the hot ground. I sucked around my teeth and spit out what was left in my mouth.

"Throwin' up." stated Lizard, and I wasn't sure if he was mocking me or not. I heard his boots come a bit closer to me. "You eat anythin' today?"

Swallowing, I nodded. "It's all over the ground now."

As soon as I woke up I'd known it would be a bad morning, but I tried to eat anyway. Sometimes it helped to settle my stomach, but this wasn't one of those times. The barely digested canned corn I had for breakfast was displayed in a splatter out in front of me. I hated puking, but doing it on my hands and knees outside just made it worse.

"Yer sick all the time." Lizard observed, his shadow falling over me now. I could sense him standing next to my hip.

I laughed, the sound devoid of humor. "Happens to pregnant women. Especially without any prenatal care."

"I've told ya a thousand times. Ain't got no doctors."

With a shaking hand I wiped my mouth, sitting back on my knees. My stomach was still churning but I was fairly sure the puking was over with. "Don't I know it…What do you want, anyway?"

Now I could see Lizard, wearing his usual clothes and standing next to me. The cowboy hat of a week ago was gone, along with any hope I'd had. Sometimes I wished Rico hadn't showed up, so I could have continued on with my charade of normalcy.

"Just makin' sure ya didn't try tuh run off er nothin'."

His voice was sarcastic, making me scowl. "Like you would have done anything different in my situation."

"Jus' shut up an' come back inside."

He put his back to me and re-entered our house. I grumbled about his not helping me up as I stood. It was obvious from his behavior he was upset with me. Usually he would have offered me a hand, maybe even held my hair back for me as I violently expelled everything in my stomach. Then he barely looked at me, and for some reason I felt…bad.

Despite how much I resented being told to 'shut up' I did what he said. Lizard had been spending much more time in the house or wherever I was since he 'dealt with' Rico, and the reasons why were clear to see. He felt ashamed to have allowed my behavior, and I knew that. It was understandable since I had been so compliant for so long.

But I hadn't been sitting on my ass for almost ten months. I could read Lizard almost as easily as he could read me.

I gingerly stepped over the faded spot of blood on the kitchen floor, entering the living room to find Lizard on the couch with his feet propped up. I raised an eyebrow when I saw the radio he held on his lap, his nimble fingers fiddling with the dials and antennae.

"Ruby told me that didn't work." I said, getting his attention. My voice was raspy and thick from all the vomiting.

Lizard grunted. "She don't know how tuh make it work. I kin fix it."

My weak legs gave me no choice but to sit down, and the only seat was next to him. I could feel the heat from his darkly tanned arm, only two inches away from mine. The baby did a little dance inside me, disturbed by the clenching muscles inside my stomach. The movement was quickly followed by a hard kick, causing me to grab my stomach and wince.

"He kickin'?"

I looked over at Lizard, finding him staring at my stomach. Funny that we both referred to the baby as a boy without the slightest clue to its gender. "Yeah…Do you, um, wanna feel?"

Wordlessly he reached over and placed a dirty hand on my stomach. Our fingers were nearly touching, but I hardly minded. Immediately I could feel the warmth from his touch through the black tank top I was wearing. It was something left from my suitcase, now far too small for me and revealing a good amount of my stretched stomach.

"There he goes." I mumbled as the tiny foot went at it again. I took Lizard's hand and guided it with the movement. It was always bizarre to see my skin jump out, propelled by a living force inside me. "Kind of neat, huh?"

His cold blue eyes were slightly wide, his fingertips pressing into my skin. "Uh huh…S'it hurt from inside?"

"No, not really. Sometimes it makes me have to pee, though."

Lizard chuckled, a strange puttering in his chest accompanied by an upward twitch of his deformed mouth. "Strong, ain't he?"

I ran my tongue over my teeth, finding a bit of sour flavor from my earlier sickness. When Lizard was angry at me my life got harder, so I decided to be generous. "Just like his daddy."

If I hadn't been watching his reaction carefully I might have missed the way his eyes flickered to mine and he moved his jaw anxiously. His thumb moved over the surface of my belly, the feeling surprisingly calm. The baby gave a few more kicks and then settled down, probably due for his mid-morning nap. Or at least I assumed he was napping, since that was when he sat still for an hour or two.

Lizard's hand lingered for a few moments after the kicking had stopped, then sliding away and going back to holding the radio. I glanced at it and cleared my throat.

"Do you think it'll work now?"

He shrugged, turning the rather outdated-looking black rectangle in his hands. "Bin tryin'. Mostly got fuzz, heard somethin. Yew kin try agin."

"Okay." I held out my hand, receiving it and setting it on top of my stomach to fiddle with.

The letters had been worn off the knobs, but I experimentally twisted them. Static came out of the speakers, scaring me into jumping. I kept turning and listening for some kind of change. After a few minutes I thought I heard something, slowing down my rotations of the knobs to find it again. When I pulled the antennae up and pointed it outside the music became much clearer, though it occasionally faded out. I couldn't help laughing when I recognized the song.

"Wut?" inquired Lizard.

I shook my head. "I danced to this song at my senior prom. My date couldn't dance at all."

"Huh."

"Did you go to prom, Lizard?" I asked, unable to help myself.

He scowled at me. "Yew ain't funny."

"Well, you had to have danced with someone…Mama?"

Lizard shocked me by snorting rather than getting angrier. "Nah, ain't never danced."

"Never?" I raised an eyebrow. It seemed like even mutant people in the desert had to have danced before. Humans just did it, even without knowing what it was.

"Nuh uh."

I frowned, watching him stare at the radio in my hands. The song was Heaven by Bryan Adams, and it was the last song they played at prom. I was wearing a floor-length blue dress, my hair was curled and pinned up on the back of my head. My date was Andrew Caine, and he tried to get me to sleep with him. I seriously considered it, but when he kissed me it was all tongue so I ran out of the hotel room he got while he was in the bathroom.

For a moment I couldn't remember where I was, so deeply immersed in happier memories. Then I came back to reality, noticing the scowl my kidding had put on Lizard's face.

"I'll teach you."

His sun-wrinkled face twisted into confusion. "Teach me wut?"

"How to dance. It's really easy. Help me up."

I reached over to put the radio down on the end table, turning back to Lizard expectantly. When he didn't move I raised an eyebrow at him in question.

Lizard scratched his hair, curling his already dented lip at me. "Whah yew wanna do that?"

The question threw me more than I anticipated. I nudged the boy-mannequin with my toe, shrugging in a way I hoped was careless. I wasn't sure if it would work, but maybe being nice to Lizard would get me some tenderness in return. Wishful thinking…wishful thinking.

"It'll give me something to do." I said eventually. "Come on, you'll like it. I promise."

Letting out an annoyed huff, Lizard stood. "Fine."

He grabbed my hand and yanked me up, the quickness of it causing the baby to wake up and sucker punch me in the kidney. I hissed and held onto my back, waiting for the pain to subside. In a few seconds it did, and I held out my hands to Lizard, who looked at them blankly.

"Give me your hands." I ordered, hoping I sounded patient.

He did as I said. For a moment I stared at his hands in mine. His hands were hardly mutated, tan like the rest of him and frighteningly agile like all of his limbs. The nails were chewed down, years of dirt shoved under the bone-like layer. The rough material of his fingerless gloves pushed into my palms, stained with blood and who knows what else. His finger twitched and I realized how long I'd been standing there.

"You hold onto my waist with one hand. Like this." my voice came out almost like a croak as I guided his right hand to the dipped area on my side that had once been a waistline. I put my left hand on his shoulder, able to feel it tense under my fingers.

"Now wut?" grumbled Lizard, shifting a little under my instruction.

I could sense he didn't like me 'teaching' him. I cupped my right hand around his left, stepping closer and bending our arms at the elbow. The mountain of my stomach pressed to his flat abdomen, keeping a good amount of space between us. At being trapped between us the baby wriggled, applying more pressure to my already squished organs.

"That's how you stand." I looked up at him to say. "You move like this."

I swayed us to the music, biting back a smile when Lizard stiffly tried to imitate what I was doing. He was concentrating harder on the task than I expected, jerkily finding the rhythm I was using and trying to match it.

"Not bad. The man's supposed to lead, though." I pointed out, beginning to move my feet a little.

Lizard made a low noise of what sounded like disapproval, tightening his hold on my waist and hand. "How come people do this?"

"It can be really fun." I shrugged. "There's lots of different ways to dance."

"Hm…Now what?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Lizard gestured his lopsided chin at our bodies. "What yew do now?"

"Oh." I mumbled, thinking. "Well, if we were at a real dance we might dance closer. Maybe I would put my head on your shoulder, or you would move your hand to my back." I looked down at the hump of my pregnancy and snorted. "Probably wouldn't fit around me like that currently."

Lizard made a noise like a laugh, nodding in agreement. I noticed that his arm was relaxing, bringing our entwined hands to rest between us. Thinking about Andrew Caine, I almost started giggling. The difference between the two of them was staggering…but I was surprised to find I didn't notice unless I really thought about it. Lizard was my normal now. A boring, everyday, garden-variety mutant psychopath.

"Ya gonna put yer head on mah shoulder?"

He almost startled me he spoke so suddenly. "Huh?…Oh, I guess."

I didn't wonder why he had asked, I just did it. I laid my temple on the hard bone of his shoulder, thinking distantly that the heated skin felt nice against mine. He smelled like sweat and built-up grime, also a little like fire. My nose numbed as I took a deep breath.

"Ain't so bad."

At Lizard's mumble into my hair I shivered. The baby gave a wild kick, causing me to arch my spine a bit, pushing more against Lizard. His hand set mine free and slithered around my back, the one on my waist joining it. My free hand landed on his own hip. It was so thin I wondered how he got any item of clothing to hang onto the slim bones.

A few moments later I realized we had stopped moving to the music. We were just standing there, my head on Lizard's shoulder and his arms around my back. I didn't dare to move, fearing it would break the peaceful moment.

I knew that out of anywhere else in all of Yuma Flats…I was safest with Lizard.

"I'm sorry I tried to run away." I found myself saying, my lips almost touching his skin.

Lizard moved his shoulders a little, fingers kneading my spine as if on their own. "S'alright. Don't do it agin."

I nodded. "I won't."

With nothing else to say I moved my arms to wrap them loosely around his neck, sighing to hold back the hysterics building in my chest.


	6. Chapter 6

Two weeks later I was outside doing laundry with Ruby when the resounding crack broke the silence of the desert.

We both looked up, our hands freezing in the old metal tub filled with dirty water and clothing. The noise came from somewhere in the hills, my eyes scanning the bumpy horizon and finding nothing. It sounded familiar. Ruby's wet hand came to rest on my bare forearm, the cool flesh of her palm making me wince.

"Wut wassat?" she whispered, her misshapen blue eyes also searching for the source.

I swallowed uneasily. "I don't know…Maybe we should go inside."

"Alright."

Ruby helped me stand, gathering up the homemade soap and wicker basket of clothes we'd been using. I lifted the metal basin, my back jolting its protest. In just two weeks I could have sworn I gained five pounds, but there were no scales in the desert. I was going by the size of my stomach in correlation to my lack of ability to see my feet. Now I could only see the tips of my big toes.

"We can hang up what's done and finish later." I mumbled as we moved for Mama's house.

I kept glancing over my shoulder, expecting to see something threatening emerge in the distance, but there was nothing. I opened my mouth to tell Ruby it was probably a rock falling somewhere out in the desert, but I was interrupted by another crackling boom.

This time it was accompanied by a shattering noise to my right. When I looked over there was a bullet hole in the siding of the house we were passing by.

Ruby shrieked, eyes darting around fearfully. "Penny!"

"Get inside!" I snapped, dropping the basin of water and clutching my stomach to run.

Another boom came quicker. A noise similar to the buzz of a fly's wings zoomed by my ear, prompting me to run faster. There were only a few yards left, Ruby already inside and beckoning for me to hurry. I practically jumped inside the house, slamming the door shut behind me and beginning to hyperventilate.

That last bullet had been centimeters away from my head.

"Who's shootin' at us?" cried Ruby, clinging onto the back of my dress.

I shook my head, wiping hair out of my face with a trembling hand. "I don't know. We should get away from the windows."

"Wut is goin' on?" came Mama's voice, stern and unhappy. There was the groaning of the stairs as her heavy body traipsed down them. "I'd jus' put Mercury an' Venus down fer their nap."

I backed up until I could lean against the counter, Ruby still holding onto me. "Someone was shooting at us. We couldn't see them, but they almost got us."

"Good lord!" Mama bustled into the kitchen, wigless and gaping in disbelief. "Are ya alright?"

I nodded, trying to even out my breathing as Ruby let go of me and instead attached herself to her mother. My legs were shaking, close to giving out. It was almost funny when I thought about it later. Even with all the unspeakable things that had happened to me, I had never actually been shot at. How close I'd come to death in those moments was terrifying.

"Go into the livin' room, girls. I'll radio Big Brain and Papa Jupe."

Ruby was clinging to me again, only this time it was to help me into the living room. I allowed my body to fall onto the couch with a loud creak, my heart still pounding. Soft footsteps made me turn, finding Venus and Mercury standing side by side at the top of the stairs.

"Wus happenin', Penny?" asked Mercury groggily, his sister rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Everything's fine! Go back into your room and lay down. Take your nape like Mama said!" I called up to them, hoping I didn't sound too close to panicking.

They grumbled, but did what I told them to. I exhaled slowly through my nose, realizing that Ruby was holding tightly to my hand and giving her deformed fingers a squeeze. She was curled up on the couch cushion next to me, hiding her face in my shoulder and mumbling. I couldn't catch any of it, but I knew she was afraid. So was I.

Mama entered the living room a few moments later, placing herself in her rocking chair heavily. "I radioed Big Brain. He sent Pluto an' Goggle to go see who's shootin'. Lizard's comin' here."

"Good." I sighed, relaxing a bit. Then I imagined the men going outside and blanched. "What if they get shot out there?"

Mama shook her shiny head, but I could see the nerves in her face. "They'll take the tunnels. Should be fine."

But there was a great possibility that it wouldn't be fine. My stomach tied itself into knots, the baby restlessly kicking me over and over. I did what I could to calm him by breathing deeply and rubbing my belly, but it didn't do a whole lot. The three of us sat in relative quiet, waiting. Mama was rocking herself slowly, her hands fidgeting in her lap. I knew she wanted to be brushing her wig, her nervous habit, but she didn't want to get up and fetch it.

"Wussat?" Ruby's voice whispered into my shoulder.

I wiped sweat off my forehead. The perspiration was beginning to collect and make my ponytail stick to the back of my neck. "I don't hear anything."

"It's Lizard." barked Mama, standing and facing the front door. She hesitated, scared to open it and expose herself to the gunfire.

We all jumped when there was another boom. Immediately it was followed by a loud scream and a bang on the door. Ruby sobbed against my arm, covering her face. I grabbed onto her sleeve awkwardly, my fingers quickly going numb with my tight grip. I watched with held breath as Mama approached the door, yanking it open and stepping to the side so she wasn't visible.

Lizard was on his knees just outside, eyes clenched shut as he clutched his left arm. For a moment I was confused, but then I saw the river of blood flowing between his fingers. I braced my hands on the sofa and desperately attempted to push myself up, letting out a frustrated cry when it didn't work. I fell back into my seat without making much progress, gritting my teeth at the pain in my lower back.

"Get him inside!" I shrieked, my voice uncharacteristically high-pitched.

Mama's expression was pained. "Come on, Lizard! Get in here 'fore they shoot ya agin!"

He staggered to his feet, only able to stand on his boots a few seconds before pitching forward inside the house. I screamed again, still fighting my size to stand, knowing I had to get to him. Mama shut the door and covered her face, weeping in fear.

It was obvious I couldn't get up on my own, so I let my knees slide down to the floor. I crawled towards Lizard, past the incapacitated mother and daughter. They weren't thinking straight, moaning in fear and shock. Things like this didn't happen to them. I had already gone through something similar with my own family.

Lizard had rolled onto his back, gritting his crooked jaw and grunting repeatedly as he tried to stem the bleeding in his bicep. I pressed my hands on top of the wound with him, cursing when blood quickly soaked my palms.

"Mama!" I yelled, my frazzled mind knowing I had to get her attention. "Get a first aid kit and towels!" she only stared at me through watering brown eyes, so I snarled. "RIGHT NOW!"

The volume and intensity of my voice must have startled her enough to make her run out of the room. Lizard cried out when I pressed harder on the wound, but I wasn't planning on letting up. Some force inside me that was stronger than I understood was compelling me to save him. I had no choice, even though I knew the wound probably wasn't even fatal.

"Did it go through?" I asked, my voice quivering with effort.

He swallowed a few times to answer. "N-no. S'in there."

"Shit!" my lips pulled back from my teeth. I glanced over my shoulder. "Hurry, Mama!"

"It ain't gonna kill me." ground out Lizard, though his body was starting to convulse slightly.

I pushed down even harder. "No doctors, remember? You could bleed to death or get an infection."

Before Lizard could say anything else Mama was at his other side, opening up the red plastic box filled with first aid supplies. I looked at it and my head spun.

Once upon a time that box had been under the sink in my parents' camper. I'd been peeling potatoes for dinner and cut my finger. My mother placed a bandage around my finger. Kissed me on my forehead like I was a toddler. Her hands smelled like coconuts from her tanning oil.

"Penny! I need ya tuh hold his arms down!"

I flinched away from my memories and looked at Mama. Her limited medical knowledge was the most expansive among anyone else in the village. She had a bottle of alcohol and an iron with her, and suddenly I knew why Lizard had started to struggle so hard.

After taking a deep breath I let myself drop back onto my bottom, ignoring the jolt it brought from the baby. I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into my lap, wrapping one arm around his neck and the other around the shoulder of his injured arm.

"Hold still." I told him firmly. "It'll be over quicker if you don't move."

A low cry of pain came from between his teeth. "Yew try this an' then sit still!"

"I know it's hard, but you have to." I tightened my hold, my muscles straining against his strength.

Mama was opening the bottle of alcohol. She nodded at me before pouring the clear liquid onto the wound. Lizard shouted once, his good hand finding the flesh of my hip and clutching for dear life. I saw Mama going for her tweezers and knew something had to be done. I pressed my fingers into his jaw and forced him to look at me, moving my face until it was only inches from his.

"Look at me and don't think about what she's doing." I ordered, staring right into the watery blue pools of his eyes. I thought for a moment and went on, not letting him move his chin from my grasp. "Venus told me Big Mama isn't your biological mother. What happened to your real mom? Tell me."

A gulp shifted his skinny throat. He was trying to do what I said, probably knowing what was coming. "She…die. When ah was little."

"How did she die?" I asked harshly, eyes flickering over as Mama heated the tweezers with a lighter.

"Rattlesnake."

I held onto him even tighter as Mama moved in with the hot tweezers. "Tell me about her."

His gnarled lips opened, the howl of a wounded animal escaping. I winced at the volume, clinging to him with all my strength to keep his arms from moving. He was much stronger than me. I didn't know how much longer I could contain the power his muscles were exerting against mine.

"Tell me about her, Lizard!" I shouted over him, trying not to look as the narrow metal tool dug inside his arm. No anesthesia. I felt nauseous for him.

After a moment the screaming stopped, Lizard pushing air through his clenched teeth before trying to answer. "S-she tall an' t-thin…Ah!…Er, uh, she…gotta lip like me! FUCK!"

I flinched at how loud he was. "Do you have any special memories of her?"

"Special…m-memories?" he bit out, his fingertips beginning to dig into my side.

The baby was going wild at all the noise and tension in my body, but I tried to ignore it. Just like I was telling Lizard to do. "Yes. Like when I was little my mother would sing to me, and I still remember that."

Talking about my mother made my eyes sting, but I was getting good at swallowing the pain.

"Uh…ah, um, she would r-read stories out of a b-book. 'Bout princesses an' s-such…Shit!"

"Almost done." said Mama, her brow furrowed and beading with sweat as she worked on Lizard's arm. The tweezers were deep in the flesh, blood running out and creating a small swamp on the floor.

I nodded briefly at her, returning my attention to Lizard. He was perspiring, the heat of his body causing me to do the same. I moved my hold on his head slightly to swipe the moisture away from his forehead.

"Like Cinderella? Snow White?"

His eyes screwed shut. "Nuh-uh…Ra-ra…punzel."

"That was one of my favorite stories." I brushed the matted grayish brown hair off his forehead. "What were the other stories?"

He was growing quieter, body going a bit limp in my lap. "Dunno…Can't…'member."

"Mama, is he okay?" I asked anxiously. Lizard's eyelids had opened just to fall shut weakly, his chin a bit slack against the swell of my stomach.

Before answering me she pulled out the tweezers, gripping the bullet that had pierced Lizard's arm. She dropped it to the floor, pouring more alcohol on Lizard's arm before covering it with a towel.

"Must 'ave passed out." explained Mama, applying pressure to the wound. "He didn't lose that much blood. Probably the pain."

I thought back to the brief lesson in CPR I had in health class as a sophomore. My index and middle fingers searched along his jaw for a pulse. It was there, and fairly strong. I slowly released the vice grip I had on him, my hands tingling with renewed sensation. Lizard's shoulder slumped, his arm falling against my leg.

"Wut are we gonna do?" came Ruby's frightened voice, her head now stuck underneath a stained throw pillow.

Mama threaded a thick, hooked needle. I looked away, supporting Lizard's head in my lap. I didn't think my stomach would be able to handle much more, especially not watching the sharp metal stitch his skin back together.

When she replied her words echoed inside my head. "This gon' mean war."


	7. Chapter 7

I didn't like being in the mines. They were cold and dark, so quiet that every time a drop of water hit a puddle I almost jumped out of my skin. However, it was much worse alone. With Lizard grasping my hand it wasn't so bad.

"Where are we going?" I whispered.

If I said I knew my way around the mines I would have been lying, but I knew I had never been in the direction he was leading me. And he really was leading me. Lizard hadn't brought a lantern, and the path we were on had no light at all. I was grateful he was moving slowly, guiding me around dips or rises in the wet stone floor. I couldn't help admiring how he could see in the blackness. Like the predator he was.

"Yull see." his reply came a moment later, bouncing off the walls and making me flinch.

I glanced back the way we'd come nervously. "What about Papa? And Big Brain said not to wander off."

"We go see Papa in a minute." grumbled Lizard, moving towards the right wall and causing me to do the same. "An it don' matter what Big Brain say."

That was new. I frowned in thought as we continued forward, my fingers running along the bumpy wall to help me get a sense of my surroundings. "How come it doesn't matter what Big Brain says? I thought you listened to him."

Lizard grunted. I wasn't sure, but I thought it sounded bitter. "Sometimes."

I could tell he didn't want to talk any more at the moment, so I shut up and focused on not tripping or falling. A few moments later a light peeked around the corner, pale orangey-yellow and faint. It illuminated the dark blue of the cave, showing me the silhouette of myself and Lizard on the wall. His slightly hunched spine and mop of hair, my shorter stature and the hump of my stomach. I stared so long I almost tripped on a rock when Lizard pulled me again.

"Sorry." he mumbled.

Apologies were rare, and I didn't want to push it, so I just nodded. We rounded the corner to where the light originated, Lizard stopping just at the edge of the circle of lamplight it created. I stepped to the side so I could see around him, my lips parting a little at what I saw.

A cemetery. Right in the middle of the mines. There were at least twenty graves, all marked by a pick axe or similar tool, decorated with dry flowers and displaying a picture of the body inside it. I gaped a moment longer, then glanced up and over at Lizard's face. The light from the lamps hanging on the walls reflected garishly on his face, shining in his ice blue eyes like fire.

"Why are we here?" I asked softly.

His expression stayed blank as he spoke. "Show ya Ma."

My chest did a funny aching thing. He released my fingers and walked carefully through the dirt graveyard, stopping in front of the grave closest to the exit on the other side of the chamber. I followed him after a moment, resting a hand on top of my stomach.

"That her?"

Lizard nodded. I bent over as much as I could with the baby in the way, looking at the picture closely. The woman was very tall and thin, wearing a short-sleeved dress that only came to her ankles, revealing worn leather boots. The photograph was old-fashioned and faded, but I could make out the cleft lip on her face and the dark curls that hung to her chin. Only after a moment of looking at her skirt did I see the small boy mostly hidden behind her.

"Is that you?" I pointed. All you could see of the boy was a bit of his messy hair and one frightened eye, dirty fingers gripping onto the material of her skirt.

An almost imperceptible twitch lifted the corners of Lizard's twisted mouth. "Yeah. Four there."

I smiled a little. Then I stared harder at the cleft lip on the woman, thinking of the same deformity on my baby. If Lizard and his mother both had it, maybe it was hereditary. I patted my belly gently. I couldn't really think of it as a part of me anymore. It had a life of it's own, moving and reacting how it pleased. I was coming to terms with the baby being real and soon living outside of me, but I couldn't see its face in my mind. The thought of that mutated lip made me shiver.

"Ah lied."

Of all the things I'd heard Lizard say, I'd never heard him say that. "You lied…About what?"

"How mah mama died." he wouldn't look at me, continuing to stare at what was probably the only picture of his mother. "Weren't no rattler."

I frowned, wondering why he would lie. "Then what happened to her?"

"Outsider got outta the garage. Stabbed her tuh death."

My blood ran cold. Even the muggy air of the cave seemed to drop at least ten degrees. I looked intently at his face, gauging how serious he was for some reason. There was little emotion on his face besides his furrowed eyebrows, but I could sense the sadness attached to the memory.

"How come you didn't tell me?" I whispered, watching the lamplight bounce off his face.

He shrugged one shoulder. "S'why I get so upset with ya. Dun want it tuh happen tuh ya."

For a few moments I wasn't sure if I'd heard him correctly. It seemed so impossible that he would admit something like that to me. Something that explained his hatred of outsiders, his distrust, and his fear. I let out a shuddering breath and blinked to clear my head.

"I didn't know you felt that way." I tried to speak firmly, but I sounded unsure.

His callused fingers came up to rub his scalp. "Yeah…Ma would try an' tell me that outsiders ain't always bad. That we didn' understand them jus' like they didn' understand us…I reckoned she was wrong…"

I nodded slowly. "Do you think I'm bad, Lizard?"

"Nah. Not all the time."

Again I nodded. "I understand that, but…um…I promise I won't try to run away again, alright? Now that you've told me."

"You don' mean that, but aright."

Shaking my head, I gathered a few shards of courage and slipped my hand around his. For a few seconds he was stiff, but gradually relaxed. I squeezed the thin bones of his hand. "I mean it."

Lizard's glacial blue eyes were on my face for a long moment, but I didn't dare look over and force him to turn away. I was still a bit shocked by how honest he'd been, frightened and excited to know if it would last. A few minutes slithered by and he tugged his hand out of mine, walking for the exit of the cemetery.

"Come on. Gotta see Papa."

Papa Jupiter didn't stay in the village like the rest of the mutants. I'd known that since my first days there. He resided in the mines, an unapproachable hermit, but he was always kind to me. Even as I entered his sickroom after Lizard he smiled at me through his greasy beard. I saw his leg and hissed, my lunch threatening to crawl out of my throat.

It was obviously infected. The area around the bullet's entry was swollen and bright red, shiny with a clear fluid oozing from the wound. Papa Jupiter winced as Ruby poured alcohol on it, grimacing from her perch by his feet. I gave her a tight grin, receiving a slight twitch of her lips in return. The air smelled like tension and pus.

"Was definitely Hades." said Papa, through his yellowed teeth.

Lizard growled and sat himself in the rickety chair next to his father's bed. "How ya know?"

I stood at the end of the bed, holding my stomach and watching as Papa moved himself into a more upright position, Ruby following his shift with her delicate, misshapen hands. The room wasn't big enough for many more people or furniture than what was already in it, just a cave in the multitude of tunnels and pathways in the mines. Papa lay on what looked like a very outdated hospital bed, his leg propped up on a couple pillows.

"Goggle an' Cyst searched an' found shell casings." grumbled Papa, trying to get comfortable with Ruby doctoring his leg. "Were from the old rifle went missin' a week ago."

Lizard's hands balled into fists, his face contorting into a hateful scowl. Sometimes I could forget how terrifying he was, but looking at him then I saw nothing but murder. The baby seemed to toss inside me, and I did nothing to calm it.

"Had tuh be them. Snuck right in an' took it, then used our own weapon 'ginst us." snarled Lizard, growling from somewhere deep in his chest. "Fuckers."

Papa Jupiter nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. His long gray hair and beard were dirtier than usual, and I wondered how long he'd been laying there without moving. The foul smell in the air could have been excrement. I put my hands over my nose and took a few deep breaths to keep myself from gagging.

"I'm talkin' tuh Hades tomorrow."

At his father's words Lizard jumped up, glowering, shocked. "Wut the hell yew thank talkin's gonna do? We gotta get 'em back!"

"Imma see if I kin't talk tuh him first!" replied Papa, shouting and causing Ruby and me to jump.

Lizard shook his head and stalked away from the bed. "Ain't no sense kin be talked into Hades. Stupid basterd."

"Goin' right tuh violence will only make things worse. I need tuh see wut he wants." Papa grumbled, frowning in a thoughtful way. He seemed used to the way his son went right to anger and retaliation. I thought it was frightening.

Lizard stopped his pacing to glare at Papa Jupiter again. "Ain't nothin' ever been 'complished with talkin'. Not out here."

"I wanna know why Hades did this." went on Papa, almost as if he was entreating with his son. "Kin't do that if we jus' go after him!"

With another loud growl Lizard stalked over and grabbed my arm, wordlessly pulling me out of the room and back down the dark passage. I kept up with him with a lot of effort, sweat rolling down my cheeks by the time we reached daylight.

"I need a break!" I gasped out, blinking against the sunlight.

Lizard silently released me, putting his hands on his hips as I collapsed onto a nearby rock. It was big enough to support me but hurt my bottom, but I didn't care. I caught my breath slowly, wiping the moisture away from my brow and onto my cut-off denim pants. The baby kicked at me in time with my rapid pulse, so I soothed the skin of my stomach through my stained pink tank top.

I watched Lizard standing so rigidly, his back to me as he stared out at the desert. I wondered if he was thinking about Hades, or the safety of his family. He put his hands on top of his head a moment later, holding his hair in irritation.

"I'm sure it will all work out." I said cautiously. "I think Papa's right."

Lizard turned around to scowl at me. When he spoke he emphasized his words by slapping the back of his hand against his other palm. "He ain't thinkin clearly 'cause it's his brother! Hades doesn't like sharin Yuma, an' now he's tryin' tuh take it back while we's weak!"

"Just because Papa's hurt doesn't make you weak." I furrowed my eyebrows, confused by how upset he was. "If they talk I'm sure everything can be figured out and -"

"I don' mean Papa!" interjected Lizard angrily. "I mean yew!"

I sat there speechless for a moment, unable to comprehend what he was talking about. "Me?"

"We're weak 'cause of yew. Tryin' tuh protect ya." Lizard cursed and shook his head. "Hard fer me tuh concentrate on other thangs."

That surprised me. I wasn't sure how many more unexpected things I could handle, especially from Lizard. Before I hadn't been able to look at him and see a thinking human being, but it was obvious his thought process was just as advanced as mine…if not more. I hadn't even considered myself an obstacle.

"I didn't…think I was important." I admitted, tucking a sweaty piece of hair behind my ear.

Lizard growled again, his glare aimed at me now. "Yew don't think bout yerself. Stupid as hell."

The insult didn't sting like it used to. "Lizard, I don't get it. Why do you think Hades did this?"

"I thank he don' want us getting our numbers up. But he doin' the same thang. Wants us weak…"

"What do you mean he's doing the same thing?" I was getting more confused by the second, forgetting how tired I was in favor of understanding him.

Lizard began to pace again in front of me. "Hades has outsider women. He breedin'."

The words sunk in and I felt a little dizzy, pressing my fingertips against the hardness of the baby inside me. "They have outsider women?…How many?"

"Dunno." Lizard rubbed his face as he walked back and forth. "Two. There been more."

There were women captive just like me not too far away. I had never been very far from the village, but I knew the general direction of Hades and his clan. I stared at the hills with new eyes, a sudden desire to find those women swelling in my throat though I knew it was impossible on my own. And who would help me?

It was always horrible when I was reminded of how helpless I was.

"But I don' care what 'e thank. Yew different."

Those two words might as well have been in another language for how well I understand them. 'You different'. How was I different? How was I not disposable like Hades' women? I decided not to say anything, my sweat glands still in overdrive along with my frazzled mind.

Lizard seemed to realize he'd been talking a lot, wiping his crooked mouth and nodding at me to get me up. "C'mon…Need tuh talk tuh Big Mama."


	8. Chapter 8

_[i] "You've got to be kidding me." _

_For the first time I wasn't the only one apprehensive about our vacation. Betty and Mike looked just as unsure as me, the three of us crammed into the back of my dad's SUV. The gas station we had pulled into looked like shit, probably like crap on its best days. It was dusty and deserted, and the pumps appeared to be older than my parents._

"_Don't judge a book by its cover." said my mom, but I could tell it weirded her out too_

_Mike stared out the window next to me. "What if the book looks like it's going to murder you?" _

_The three of us chuckled in the backseat, getting a stern look from my dad. "Just for that you three are going inside to ask for help."_

_There really was no use protesting. My father's word was law, so my friends and I found ourselves piling out and heading inside. Betty walked ahead of Mike and me, the two of standing close together and peering around like a monster was going to jump out._

"_This is the beginning of so many horror movies." mumbled Mike. "There's going to be a creepy attendant with only two teeth, I just know it."_

_I pursed my lips so I wouldn't smile as we entered the small building. The shelves were mostly bare, holding a few dusty canned goods here and there. The only thing that looked up to date was the freezer, holding only beer and water. I glanced at a doorway covered only by strings of white and brown beads, able to see a table and a weak lamp in the back._

"_Hello?" called Betty, approaching the cash register and tapping the service bell. It was broken, only giving a dull thud under her hand. Betty turned to make a face at us, shrugging her dark shoulder. "Maybe there's no one here."_

"_Where would they have gone?" Mike leaned down to inspect what seemed to be very old SPAM. _

_I shrugged, spinning on the heel of my shoe to look at the freezer again. A scream erupted out of my mouth before I could stop it, an older man standing only two feet away from me in the beaded doorway. It was due only to luck that I didn't topple over all the shelves behind me. _

_He wore a filthy blue jumpsuit, unzipped at the top to reveal a sweat-stained white shirt underneath. He had small black eyes that were glaring at me, rough gray whiskers on his jaw and poking out from under his dirty trucker cap._

"_Kin I help yew?" he said, the cigarette dangling between his lips moving with the words._

_Embarrassment replaced the shock and fear, and I blushed. "We need gas. And directions."_

"_Sure thang." _

_He walked out of the store ahead of us, Mike falling into step beside me to whisper in my ear. "Looks like I was wrong. He appears to have five teeth." _

_I elbowed him in the ribs as we reentered the sweltering heat. Betty, Mike, and I stood at the back of the SUV near the camper while my dad talked to the weird attendant, my mom fanning herself with a brochure and looking dubious. I tried not to stare, but it was difficult. Besides, I wanted to know what was being said._

_The guy pumped gas into our car and pointed in the direction we'd been traveling. "Shortcuts'not too far out that away. Yull see the turn-off easy, it bein' the first one. Yeah, real nice view of the hills an' such." _

"_That's why we came out this way." my mother added, her expression becoming a bit more excited._

_I frowned at my parents. "Is a shortcut really a good idea? We don't know the area and it would suck to get lost out here."_

"_My very optimistic daughter Penny." Dad gestured at me sarcastically, and then I was ignored as the attendant kept pumping and giving instructions._

_Betty wrinkled her nose and grunted, causing me to look at her. "Seems strange to go that way. Doesn't really make sense that there would be a shortcut out here." _

_I agreed, but I didn't say anything else. My friends stood with me and listened anxiously, mostly wanting to be on the road again. It was getting hotter by the second and I just wanted to get going. We could take all the shortcuts my insane parents wanted if it got me out of that desert faster. _

_I didn't understand how people lived out there[/i]._

_I flinched when hands sunk into my hair. Instinct told me not to move when I was touched, even if it surprised me. I had been so lost in my thoughts and the mundane task of washing dishes that I hadn't even heard Lizard come up behind me, but now I could hear him breathing as his long fingers ran up the base of my scalp until he was holding my hair in two sections. _

_He didn't say anything, just gathered my dark brown tresses and hold onto them. I stood perfectly still and waited, unsure what he was going to do but expecting something unpleasant. He hadn't said a word to me for the past three days, stalking around growling at anyone who tried speaking to him. I could tell he was upset, anxious. But I didn't know what to do about it. _

_I could feel his thumbs moving against my hair, smoothing it over his palms. My hair was freshly washed with homemade soap, so it didn't smell like much but it was very soft and thick. I hated going for long periods of time without bathing. Not even ten months away from civilization could break me of that preference, and I enjoyed the feel of my hair light and bouncy down my back. _

_Lizard appeared to enjoy it as well. His firm body pressed to my back, and I knew it the moment his nose joined his hands. I could feel it when he inhaled, then a moment later his hot exhale through his mouth against my skin. My eyelids drooped slightly. It was the first soft contact from him in weeks. _

_Since I knew better than to say anything I used body language, leaning my head back into his touch, relaxing my tensed shoulders against his chest. His fingertips pressed in and moved to my ears, running over the shell and causing an involuntary tremble to start in the base of my spine and travel up. Lizard's next inhale caused him to shake a bit, something he had never done before. I shut my eyes and let my head fall back more, almost on his shoulder. A content sigh slipped out of my throat and I realized how tightly all my muscles were wound. Had been wound. I was slumping bit by bit as his fingers trekked to my throat._

_One callused palm rested on my exposed neck, the other on the side of my jaw, still tangled in my hair. I listened to Lizard breathing shallowly, able to feel his heart beating against my back when I really concentrated. It was going quickly, thrumming hard in his skeletal chest. He must have been doing something taxing before he came to find me. I wondered briefly if it had something to do with Hades, but then he gently scraped his ragged nails on my throat and I forgot._

"_Penny."_

_My name startled me into opening my eyes. I could only see one of Lizard's eyes from behind my head, but it was looking at me so intently my stomach tightened. The baby stirred, confused at the switch from relaxation to nervous. I swallowed, my throat squeezing uncomfortably from the position. _

"_Hm?" I dared to respond, pursing my lips around the noise._

_Lizard's hand slid from my throat to my collar bone, the tips of his fingers just barely entering the top of my sleeveless sky blue dress. He fingered the top button, not undoing it but playing with it clumsily._

"_Where Big Mama at?" he mumbled into my hair. _

_My eyes had started to close again, and I answered groggily. "With Papa Jupe. I'm babysitting."_

"_Where the kids?" _

"_Taking a nap."_

_Lizard was looking hard at my face, then down my body. I realized that one of my hands was laying on my stomach, the other still submerged in soapy water. I pulled it out and wiped it on my dress, folding both my hands over the bulge of my pregnancy. There was something like anxiety in Lizard's eyes, his brow furrowed and extra red from being out in the sun all day. His fingers finally popped the button open, his glacial blue eyes snapping to mine with a question. I saw the desperation and gave in._

_I didn't like to see him upset. I tried not to dwell on that._

_((Sorry if this is short and rather uneventful, but I'll update again much sooner than last time and it will have more stuff going on. I appreciate comments, but I just hope you read and enjoy. I very much enjoy writing it.)) _


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn't the bumpy, callused on my arms that woke me. It wasn't even the soft grunts as I was lifted out of bed and hoisted. At eight months pregnant I was prone to sleeping hard, to the point where only vigorous shaking or loud yelling could wake me up. Lizard hated it, would grumble at me for hours after I woke up.

No, it wasn't being touched or moved that caused me to wake up. I was used to feeling hands on me while I slept, and not reacting to unexpected sensations had become a part of my daily life.

It wasn't even how my bares heels drug on the gritty floor of the house, or an angry voice growling in my ear as it rested. However, as soon as an unkind hand rested on my stomach I knew.

My eyes fluttered open and I stared into the darkness of my house, confused about the arms around me and why I was upright. I started to struggle and immediately I was constricted, a fleshy hand that smelled like dirt and blood covering my mouth. The voice told me to shh, and I tried to free my arms, furrowing my eyebrows.

Ragged nails dug into my cheek but I only wriggled harder. The body holding me started moving again, dragging me towards the door. I kicked out my feet, knocking over an end table and consequently a lamp. I waited for the crash but the lamp landed on the couch, falling with a soft clatter to the floor. I managed to gather my wits enough to cry out against the hand, but it was muffled and not even as loud as the lamp.

I heard the door open and swallowed to wet my dry throat. My feet moved to the hard sandy ground, and I dug my toes down to try and slow down the movement. Whoever held me was walking backwards, and I used their distraction with not tripping to my advantage. I jerked my left arm suddenly, wrestling it free and pulling their hand off my mouth.

"LIZARD!" I shrieked into the pitch black night, unaware that was what I was going to say until it left my lips.

The man dragging me moved his hand back to my mouth, tightening it and growling at me to shut up. I screamed wordlessly into their dirty palm and reached up to claw at them with my freed arm. They grunted in pain when my nails tore at the flesh of their neck, and I took the opportunity to twist my neck to one side.

"HELP!" my voice cracked, my throat beginning to sear a bit from how loud I was yelling. I hadn't screamed so loud for months.

There was an irritated huff in my ear. "Quiet!"

I shook my head, fighting even harder. My legs were getting sore from struggling uselessly to gain traction, and the muscles in my arms throbbed from being taut as I tried to free myself.

A howl of pain shot out of my attacker when I bit down on his fingers ferociously, ignoring the hot tang of blood that burned my cracked lips. His hand shot away from my face and I drew in a deep breath to scream again.

"LIZARD!"

The hand came back, shaking with pain and fury and slick with blood. I gasped when the arm around me tightened more, making it difficult to breathe. I opened my clenched eyes, not even realizing I had them that way, staring at the empty blackness and listening. There were heavy, crunching footsteps coming from behind us. My heart leapt at the thought that it was lizard.

"That her?" a voice that was more of a gravelly gurgle said. I didn't recognize it. My stomach sank. I thought of Hades and knew it was one of his clan.

Whoever was restraining me nodded. "S'her. Need tuh hurry. She bin yellin'."

Now that it was saying more I knew the voice. A bolt of confusion and then betrayal ran up and down my spine. "Goggle?"

There was no reply. He dropped me and I yelled, but two pairs of hard arms caught me, one holding each arm. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. One of the two men holding onto me now had a flashlight and the beam fell on the torn and stained pants Goggle wore. I looked at his face, seeing all the hate there. Blood dripped from his hand and I felt my bottom lip tremble.

"Why?" I mumbled, not really expecting an answer from the mutant brother who had always loathed me more than the rest.

He punched me in the face. I hadn't seen the blow coming, my head getting knocked to the side forcefully. My mouth gaped, sucking in a breath of cool night air that made my lungs ache. My cheekbone throbbed, pain rocketing through my body in a shocking wave. Lizard had hit me, but it had never felt personal. I was surprised by how hurt I was.

"Take 'er." said Goggle in a cruel monotone, watching a couple of tears dribble down my cheeks with satisfaction in his beetle black eyes.

They started to carry me along like a bag of dead meat, and I was limp like I was defeated. I might have been if it weren't for a questioning nudge inside me, right at the top of my stomach. I shook my head and breathed shallowly. For a moment the realization that I would die was powerful and almost appealing. Hadn't I wished for that more than once? But I threw that idea away because it wouldn't be only me dying. A miniscule life that was fifty percent me would die, too.

A surge of maternal instinct hit me like a swarm of bees. My skin prickled with rage and I was sucking in the longest breath I could and squinting and letting out a noise that barely sounded human.

The two men holding me stopped moving, their hands loosening on my arms for a moment. I knew they were frightened. I was frightened. The piercing wail was still spewing from my throat, so loud that my ears crackled and popped. No one within a mile would be able to escape that sound. I didn't recognize myself in those moments where I screeched like a wounded animal searching for help. But it would always be with me.

My breath ran out in a helpless groan, the inside of my throat so raw I was sure I tasted blood. The men behind me stayed perfectly still, unsure, waiting. The beam of the flashlight had fallen, showing nothing but ground. They had dropped it. Goggle's raspy voice chimed in from somewhere in front of me.

"Go! Dat probly woke 'em all up!"

They weren't able to take another step before there was the sound of a door flinging open. I smiled a painful smile when Lizard's voice cut into the rigid silence.

"PENNY?"

I swallowed, opening my mouth to reply in a voice that was half croak. "Here! It's Hades men!"

I could hear Lizard curse softly, then his pounding footsteps on the desert floor. I was dropped, my tailbone hitting the hard ground and causing me to wince. The baby kicked me and I set a hand on my stomach, grateful to be able to touch it again.

Lizard was fast and stealthy. There were only two soft 'oomph's behind me, then the thud of bodies falling over unconscious. I didn't know how he could see anything in the starless night, but I could hear him approaching Goggle.

"Yew…" was all Lizard said, his voice thick, livid.

Goggle took a step away from his brother. "I dun told yew! She ain't bin nuthin' but trouble fer us since ya brought 'er! I told ya tuh kill 'er, I told ya!"

"AIN'T YER DECISION!" shouted Lizard. He sounded so close and mad that I flinched out of habit.

"So yew want a baby that half outsider?" Goggle pushed on, sounding afraid but angry, persistent. "Yew want tuh procreate with [i]dem[/i]?"

There was the noise of Lizard grabbing his brother and throwing him to the ground, towering over him and yelling. "She mine! She mine and she ain't like dem! Yew always think yew right and yew ain't!"

"Go 'head and kill me den!" yelled Goggle, his voice uncharacteristically loud. It quavered anxiously. "Kill me tuh protect her!"

Lizard seethed, and I could imagine his thin chest rising and falling like a stormy sea with his fury. Blind fury that had left me bruised and broken before and was now directed at his family. Because of me. I felt wrong and out of place, sitting on the ground staring at them. Outsider.

"Go." spat Lizard. "Take dem and go. Tell Hades dat we was gonna try tuh do thangs nice but he took dat away now. Tell 'im I'm gonna kill 'im."

Goggle scrambled up, panting. "Ya can't tell me tuh go nowhere! I ain't scared a yew, ya dumb bastard!"

A gun cocked, and Goggle made a choking noise. I imagined Lizard shoving the barrel of his revolver into Goggle's mouth, holding it there forcefully. "Ya should be. I will kill yew 'fore ya ever touch her again. Ya don't touch…what's mine…Now go…GO!"

Lizard shoved his brother towards the men of Hades clan, who were stirring and moaning in pain. I gasped when hands grabbed for mine, but I knew them well this time. Lizard yanked me to my feet, automatically supporting me with both his wiry arms when my knees shook.

Goggle was breathing heavily, enraged as he began walking away. Lizard's heart was beating like a hummingbird's wing, I could feel it on my arm as he led me back towards the house. I winced when Goggle shouted after us.

"Yew gon die fer her, brother? Yew would let dem all die?"

For a moment I didn't think Lizard would respond, but he did, and only in a grumble close to my ear.

"Yeah."

**0000**

**I really do apologize for taking so long to update. I appreciate every bit of feedback I get, and I really appreciate people just taking the time to read my story, even if they don't comment. I hope it does for anyone who reads it what it does for me writing it.**

**I'm going to try and be quicker with updates from now on. But real life is getting a little hectic. High school is winding down and I'm trying to figure out how a real committed relationship works and…well, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, thanks to those that are sticking with me. Watch for updates. **


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